Friday, February 13, 2009

The Ambassador Of Baseball

Just finished editing photos from Tuesday night's 25th Annual Bobby Dolan Diner. This year's keynote speaker was Dodger great, Tommy Lasorda. Growing up in the Bay Area, I have a few special memories of Lasorda so meeting him in person was a treat...photographing him, not as much.

Part of my job for the athletic department is to shoot grip and grins of the baseball players with the keynote speaker—I have about 10 minutes to photograph 50+ players and VIP's. In the past I've worked with Will Clark, Goose Gossage, John Miller and a few others and I've never had a problem. In order to maximize the speaker's time, I preset my lights. Immediately following the press conference the speaker poses for the photos and within twenty minutes they are downstairs in the ballroom eating their salad. Tommy didn't play so nice. The following conversation actually happened:

Me: "Mr Lasorda, it's a pleasure to meet you. We're gonna do a few photos with the players now."

Tommy: "Where are we doing this, we doing this here?"

Me: "I've got some lights set up just behind you {points to light stands, directly behind him}. Can I get you to step back two feet?"

Aside from that interaction (yeah, I moved my lights), Lasorda was great. He had good stories and spent lots of time talking to kids and signing autographs. He really is an ambassador for the game. Unfortunately, he isn't too keen on photographers (more likely, just long-haired bearded ones). Anyway, here are a few of the non-grip and grins from the night: